Garage-door-operating device



m. M, 1924. 115mm? I N. WESTBY- GARAGE DOOR OPERATING DEVICE Filed March 19. 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 m, m,- I924. 1,511,697 N. WESTBY GARAGE DOOR OPERATING .DEVlGE Filed March 19. 1923 2 Shams-sheet 2 Patented Uct. 14, 192d.

NICKOLAY WESTBY, F S1. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

GARAGE-DOOR-OPEBATING DEVICE.

Application filed March 19, 1923. Serial No. 625,994.

T 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, NIGKOLAY WEsrnr, a citizen of the- United States, residing at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State ofMinnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Garage- Door-Uperating Devices, of which the following is a specification I My invention relates to improvements in doors for: garages or any other structures having a door opening closed by two doors hinged one to each door post and closing together near the middle of the door, and means by which manipulation of one of the doors will close both of them simultaneously.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is. a horizontal section on the line 11 in Fig. 2. l

Fig. 2 is an inside elevation of a wall of a structure having a door provided with my operating mechanism.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section on the line 3--3 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged section on the line 4-4 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged section on the line 5-5 in Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings by reference numerals, 6 designates the wall of a garage, stable, boat-house or other building having a door opening 7 closed by two doors at 8, and each composed of two members 910 hinged at 11 to fold inward as in the dotted position in Fig. 1. To cause the door members to fold and unfold properly at their hinges, I provide each member with an upright rigid arm 12 fixed at 12 and having its upper end journaled in a block 13 (see Fig. 3) which is provided with side wheels or rollers 14 running on a channel track 15 fixed at 16 to the wall above the door opening. The members 9 have their upper ends provided with vertically fixed arms 17, the upper ends of which are pivotally engaged in metal bearings 18 secured in an endless cable 19, which is guided by pulleys 20 and 21, the latter pulleys serving to hold the cable stretched and are mounted on studs 22 fixed in flat metal arms 23 which are pivoted at 24 so as to swing with the cable19 to some extent toward and away from the wall dur ing the opening and closing movement of the doors.

Journaled in bearings 25 fixed above the Each of'said bearings is provided with a lateral notch 29 adapted to receive a lat eral tooth30 of a collar 31 fixed on the shaft and having two radial but preferably curved fingers 32, 33 (see Fig. 4:) straddling the top edge of the members 9.

The shaft 26 is slidable in its bearings and has a fixed collar 34 which stands normally slightly clear of the actuating arm of a bell crank lever 36 which is pivotally mounted at 37 on one of the door mom berslO and has its lower arm connected by a vertical rod 38 to a hand lever 39. which is. pivoted at l0 upon the door and has its handle portion 41 offset from the door (see Fig. The projecting pinsf4-2 and-13 arestops to limit the swinging movement of the lever 39.

In operation, when the door is to be opened the operator takes hold of the handle 41 and by pressing downward the bell-crank lever arm 35, pressing on collar 341' causes spring 28 to yield and the teethor projections 30 are thereby unlocked or disengaged from the brackets 25. At this moment the operator pulls inward at the lever 41 so as to bring the door sections to the dotted position shown in Fig. 1, the torsional force of the spring 28 and the fingers 33 and cable 19 cause the movement of one door to open both doors. As soon as the door sections 9 get to the dotted position shown in Fig. 4E, the fingers 33 stop in the dotted downward position and the fingers 32 will stand about horizontal. The torque in spring 28 holds the shaft 26 with the fingers in said position. VVhen the doors or door sections are pushed to closed position again each door section 9, movingas from right to left in Fig. 1 takes with it the finger 33 to the full line position and by releasing the hand lever 39 from downward pressure the spring 28 will push the shaft 26 with the clutch or looking teeth 30 into the notches 29 in the brackets 25 and thus lock the doors against pressure from the outside. During the opening and closing of the doors the hanger 12, rollers 14 and track 15 support and guide the sections or members of the doors. To make the fingers 33 operate more easily the adjacent top edgeof the door is given a notch 33f and lbeveled as at9 in Fig. 4. In Fig. 1 the line 14 in I dicate s thev slightly curved formf of'the rail or track 15. V i

What I claim is;

' 1. In a structure having a door. opening, two doors hmgedone to each vertical edge of the openings and adapted when in closed position to cover the opening, each of said doors composed of two sections hinged together 'at'a vertical line to fold inward into the structure, a horizontal guiding rail secured to the structure, and means secured to the adjacent top cornersof-the two doors "and guidingly engaged a'horizontal shaft journaled in hearing-s on thewall above the door and having both sliding androtary movements in thebearing,

two radial fingers fixed on the shaft for engaging the topv of each door one finger tendtoopen the door andthe other to hold it closed, interengagi'ng means on the shaft and its hearings to lock the doors against being" opened fromthe outside, a partly compressed torsion spring on'the-shaft and having one end secured in one of the bearings and the other to the shaft, the tendency of said spring being to open the doors by its torsion and locking them by pushing the shaft .endwiseinto locked position, a

collar fixed on the shaft, a hell-crank lever mounted on one of the doors and engaging the collar to push the shaft against the resistance of the sprin and thus unlock the shaft, a hand lever pivoted on the door and operative connection between said lever and the hell-crank lever and means controlling the movement of the hand lever.

2. The structure specified in claim 1, in which each of the two doors has its top edge formed with a notch for one of the fingers of the shaft to occupy and reach the outer side of the door, and the door being beveled in the bottom of said notch. 3. The structure specified in claim 1, in which each of the two =d0015 has its top edge "formed with a notch for one of the fingers of the shaft to occupy and reach the outer side of the door, and the door being beveled'in the bottom of said notch,

said fingers engaging the inner sides of the door, arched so as to allow the top edge of the door suflicient play between the outer and the inner. fingers. I a

In testlmony whereof I affix my signature.

NICKOLAY WE STBY. 

